David Bolton: FINRA Bars Bowling Green Financial Advisor

A disciplinary action taken by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority against former Bowling Green, Kentucky broker and investment advisor David Bolton (CRD# 5038018) barred him over allegations of unsuitable mutual fund trading. A former representative of Thurston Springer Financial and Signator Investors, Bolton was barred from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm.

According to a FINRA decision (No. 2016049775701) dated August 2018, David Bolton was named in a FINRA complaint detailing allegations he participated in “in a pattern of short-term mutual fund trading” in the accounts of two customers, effecting more than 60 unsuitable short-term trades involving Class A mutual funds without any reasonable grounds to believe they were suitable. FINRA went on to note that Class A mutual fund shares “are long-term investments,” but in spite of this Bolton executed a pattern of short-term trades. He also allegedly recommended one customer “invest $731,265 in Class A shares of 42 funds in 11 different fund families,” which FINRA describes as unsuitable given that a “similar investment across fewer fund families” would create lower sales charges. In total, according to FINRA, these unsuitable recommendations resulted in at least $24,747 “in unnecessary sales charges” for the customers. As a result of the foregoing alleged conduct, David Bolton was barred from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm.

David Bolton was also named in a 2019 sanction by Kentucky securities authorities, alleging that as representative of Bolton Total Wealth Management and Spirited Funds LLC he sold unregistered promissory notes and misrepresented or omitted material facts. He was issued a cease-and-desist order and fined $220,000.

David Bolton’s disclosure records also list two settled or pending customer complaints against him. A 2016 complaint, for instance, alleged that as a representative of Signator Investors, he made unsuitable recommendations and provided poor advice; the complaint reached a settlement of $71,750.61. And a pending 2019 complaint alleges that as a representative of Thurston Springer Financial, he engaged in “negligent buying and selling” of variable annuity and mutual fund products; the complaint alleges damages of $24,770.

David Bolton is currently not registered as a broker or investment advisor. His employment history includes Thurston Springer in Bowling Green, Kentucky; Signator Investors in Bowling Green, Kentucky; Edward Jones in Bowling Green, Kentucky; National Planning Corporation in Louisville, Kentucky; Morgan Stanley DW in Purchase, New York; Raymond James Financial Services in Bowling Green, Kentucky; and Merrill Lynch in New York, New York. He currently holds zero state licenses and has passed four securities industry qualification examinations.